Lawinenlagebericht

Selkirk Mountains

Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Wed
Hochgebirge
2 · Mässig
Waldgrenze
2 · Mässig
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Kernpunkte

As temperatures rise to well above freezing this afternoon, surface snow will become wet and lose cohesion increasing the chances of wet snow avalanches that could run long distances on a stout crust just below recent snow and grow large enough to push you around or bury a person. Be prepared to retreat to shaded north aspects at upper elevations or lower angle terrain lower elsewhere when you start to see roller balls, sink below boot tops or encounter snow that sticks to your skis and skins.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Loose Wet

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    1–2

    It’s the time of year when our days in the mountains are influenced by the diurnal freeze-melt cycle. Yesterday our forecast team noted a rapid change in surface snow conditions about midday and documented a couple of wet loose avalanches in the Silver Valley/Bitterroots that grew in size and ran long distances. Natural wet loose avalanches may occur when snow sluffs out of warming cliff bands or ridgetop cornices fail, while a skier or rider could trigger one on steep slopes.

    The compass rose shading for this problem is complex today. Clear skies this morning will warm solar aspects first, but incoming cloud cover this afternoon will create a thermal blanket that will warm surface snow around the compass rose at mid-elevations. A breeze at upper elevations should keep surface snow cold on non-solar aspects due to convective cooling. While solar aspects at lower elevations likely do not have enough snowpack for avalanche problems to exist.

    Stay mindful of your exposure to terrain traps like gullies, tree strainers and cliffs as wet avalanches are notorious for carrying riders a long way and setting up like concrete when they stop moving. Heed the tell-tail signs of wet loose problems like natural sloughing, roller balls and sticky snow, and be prepared to find colder snow or dial it back to lower angle terrain as the snow surface evolves today.

    Air temperatures were just creeping to near freezing at the time of this avalanche, but the intense spring sun accelerated warming at the surface. 

    March 30, 2026.

    Photo: Izzy Davis

  • Wind Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Unlikely
    Größe
    1–2

    Strong southwest winds are quickly working to deepen and thicken newly formed slabs at middle and upper elevations. 24-hour snow totals range 3 to 8 inches and now rest above mostly firm surfaces around the compass. You may encounter isolated places on sheltered slopes or those facing the wind with reactive storm snow, but the new snow will be deeper and more broadly drifted on northerly and easterly-facing slopes. There, fresh slabs up to a foot thick could produce a larger and potentially more consequential avalanche.

    Fortunately, there are helpful clues and warning signs that can help guide you around the most worrisome places. Pay attention to how much snow you are walking or riding through - if you find more than about 6 inches of new snow, stop and reassess because you are likely in an area with enough new snow to harbor drifting hazards. If the snow surface becomes stiffer, if you barely make an impression on the surface, or the snow surface looks smooth and pillowy, you are likely in a wind-drifted area. If you hear audible collapsing or see fresh avalanches, pull back to lower-angled slopes away from ridges and limit travel below steep sidewalls of gullies.

    (2/16/2026)

    Shooting cracks extended from our skis today while traveling in areas where the wind has drifted and stiffened the recent storm snow. This shooting crack release a storm slab avalanche in steeper terrain below a gentle ridgeline.

    Photo: Jackson George

Avalanche Discussion

The latest round of snowfall has moved downstream. Elevated winds will linger over the next 48 hours and will continue to transport snow out of windward fetches and into leeward-facing areas. The wind doesn’t look overly angry so drifting is likely found in the usual places. As you move lower in elevation where snow depths could taper from around 8 inches to just a couple of inches, similar drifting concerns are likely more isolated if they exist at all.

Thanks to the plethora of spring-time weather, rain, and many days of a repetitive thaw-refreeze cycle, fresh avalanche concerns should be confined to the recent snowfall. Places where the crust below the new snow became more breakable recently, those slides could break slightly deeper and increase the overall volume of snow to slide downhill. However, the depth extent of a slide is likely restricted by the rain-soaked now refrozen mass layer underneath and that’s really holding the main snowpack body together.  

Since most of the new snow fell in the warm sector of the storm, new snow densities range 10 to 15%. This could improve bonding at the new/ old snow interface, but it will also make shallower slabs more cohesive and potentially more reactive than if the same depths fell with lower-density, more fluffy snow. If you find the new snow in sheltered areas is softer and more cohesionless, the snow there is more likely to sluff with ski or machine disturbance. With how smooth and planar the old snow surface is, any flavor of slide you trigger will likely move quickly downhill. Keep your head on a swivel to avoid getting pushed somewhere you don’t want to go.

If you do trigger either a loose snow or slab avalanche today, keep in mind even small slides can have compounding consequences if they happen in the wrong terrain - like above large cliffs, on long and sustained steep slopes, or where you get stuffed in a terrain trap or depression and debris piles in behind you.

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